California seeks federal help for salmon fishers facing ban

SAN DIEGO — California officials want federal disaster aid for the state’s salmon fishing industry, they said Friday following the closure of recreational and commercial king salmon fishing seasons along much of the West Coast due to near-record low numbers of the iconic fish returning to their spawning grounds. Dealing a blow to the salmon fishing industry, the Pacific Fishery Management Council unanimously approved the closure Thursday for fall-run chinook fishing from Cape Falcon in northern Oregon to the California-Mexico border. “The fact is that just too many salmon eggs and juvenile salmon died in the rivers in 2020 as a direct result of politically driven, short-sighted water management policies, under the prior federal administration, to ‘maximize’ irrigation river water deliveries during a major drought,” said Glen Spain, acting executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “Unfortunately, this purely politically driven mistake will cost our fishing-dependent coastal communities dearly.” California fishing industry representatives and elected leaders said federal aid must be released quickly and efforts need to be ramped up to restore salmon habitat in California rivers with better water management, and the removal of dams and other barriers.